DD wants to take a year off before graduate school... anyone BTDT?

[Anonymous]

DD is a recent college graduate who majored in communications. She is dead set on going to graduate school for a dual journalism/computer science masters degree because her career end goal is sports journalism and data analysis. She took the GRE last year without studying and did pretty well on it, but not well enough to get into the target score range for getting into the top-three schools she wants to go to, although the scores were in the target range for other top--tens. Her undergrad GPA was around a 2.7 at a very difficult school because she worked and played a sport all the way through undergrad, but her portfolio has been reviewed by a few top-5 schools and she was told it was excellent.

She recently moved back home with us (we are no longer in DC) and is planning to live here for a year to save on rent, and we are totally okay with it as long as she pays for her food, car, etc. and doesn't make it unbearable for DH and I to get things done. Right now she is planning to work retail part time, write for a publication part time and study for the GRE and take it again in October or November so she can have everything together before the December application deadlines.

If anyone else has BTDT, is this the right way for DD to be spending her year off before grad school or should she be looking for a full time internship or job in a position that might not be exactly what she wants? Does anyone have any tips for DD in navigating grad school applications? Is grad school even reasonable for someone with a lower undergrad GPA but with good test scores and portfolio? I have no experience with this type of thing and she is my oldest so I feel pretty clueless.

[Anonymous]

I really think it depends on the field. For my field, it's pretty standard to take 1-3 years off to work in research, as it's difficult to be accepted to top Ph.D. programs without publications/presentations on one's CV.

For her specific field, I'm assuming she should consult former professors and get their take, and do her own research re: the best way to prep for admission.

[Anonymous]

Mom. Land the helicopter. She is an adult.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I really think it depends on the field. For my field, it's pretty standard to take 1-3 years off to work in research, as it's difficult to be accepted to top Ph.D. programs without publications/presentations on one's CV.

For her specific field, I'm assuming she should consult former professors and get their take, and do her own research re: the best way to prep for admission.

This is the right answer.

[Anonymous]

Yes, she should take the year because she will never survive grad school if she is already feeling a need for a break.

[Anonymous]

I took a year off- but had already applied and been accepted to grad schools. I did defer my admission. I did a year of volunteer work overseas, which actually really helped shape what I wanted to specialize in.

BUT...that was almost 20 years ago.

[Anonymous]

It's a great idea for her to take a year off before going back to grad school-and I agree with advice about consulting with her professors (and do some informational interviews).

The part that's not so great is living at home and working part time. Living on her own and working full time will give her a much better sense of what working life is like and what salary she will need to be comfortable. As someone who has read applications and does hiring I'd say that taking a year off before pursuing a degree is a responsible move but using that year to chill and live with your parents does not look so great.

[Anonymous]

Everything makes sense to me except for the plan to work in retail. Why not fill that time with something in a technology or communications field? Having said that though, it sounds like she's doing everything with a plan, so being able to clock in to a relatively easy assignment for some cash flow while she focuses on the important stuff isn't the worst approach.

[Anonymous]

I did this. Applied to grad school, graduated, drove to Alaska with boyfriend, made good money working the salmon summer season, decided in August to defer for a year. Came home in Oct, waited tables to make most money I could. Left the following August for overseas grad program.

Many fellow students had taken a few years to work in their field before coming to school. It is not unusual at all. I agree with others she should try and find a job in her field to see if it's what she thought it would be before spending a bunch of money for more schooling.

[Anonymous]

My niece is just finishing her first year of grad school after taking the 2016-2017 school year off. She had heard our family talk so much about making sure to enjoy your youth and taking advantage of time off before she gets a real job. She decided to take the year off and she joined an Au Pair program. She worked for 6 months in Spain for a Spanish family watching their two children and had a great time. She had rudimentary Spanish to begin with. She taught the kids English and the kids improved her Spanish. She had weekends off and traveled around Spain on the weekends and had a blast. For the four months before and the four months after her tour, she took several road trips to visit friends who had started jobs and visited them in their new homes. She took long weekend trips with some friends to visit places that she wanted to explore before settling down. Her boyfriend had a very tight schedule and she was able to be flexible around his schedule. In general, she took advantage of year off to do a bunch of bucket list things. She came back last year and was really ready to buckle down and work and she's worked hard this year in grad school. I think she already has a lot less regrets thanks to her year off than her older sister who took a great job right out of college and has been working straight for several years and is now getting burned out (she took a job in Manhattan for a major communications firm and worked her tail off for the last 3 years in a very high stress job).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I did this. Applied to grad school, graduated, drove to Alaska with boyfriend, made good money working the salmon summer season, decided in August to defer for a year. Came home in Oct, waited tables to make most money I could. Left the following August for overseas grad program.

Many fellow students had taken a few years to work in their field before coming to school. It is not unusual at all. I agree with others she should try and find a job in her field to see if it's what she thought it would be before spending a bunch of money for more schooling.

This is OP. My DD has worked in journalism through her school's newspaper for her last three years of college in addition to an unrelated seasonal job. I don't know if this is what you are referring to, but right now she is having trouble finding things in her field in our area that are not unpaid internships, thus the sales job.

[Anonymous]

I took 2 years off between BA and MA, and then 8 years between MA and PhD. The 2 years was pretty standard in my field. The 8 years, not so much. But it worked for me.

That GPA is going to be a huge hurdle. She will need not just an outstanding portfolio, but also outstanding references and GRE scores. Even then, it may just be too much to overcome for a top three school.

As much as I loathe unpaid internships, she may benefit from taking one with a local sports team to really dive into data analytics. That would certainly strengthen her candidacy for grad school. It would also help her make industry contacts and she may find she can secure employment without grad school. She can learn python and other programming languages on her own or through non-credit offerings at local colleges.

[Anonymous]

I worked for 2 years before grad school because it was basically required (MBA). Lots of people defer grad school now, in part to make sure it's the right path and in part to save money.

She should look for a real job though. There has never been a better time for college grads to find jobs. Unemployment is super low. My DC just graduated and got a job easily and had tons of interviews (and this was with a liberal arts degree). Same with all her friends. So maybe it won't be in journalism but there must be related jobs she can apply for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I took 2 years off between BA and MA, and then 8 years between MA and PhD. The 2 years was pretty standard in my field. The 8 years, not so much. But it worked for me.

That GPA is going to be a huge hurdle. She will need not just an outstanding portfolio, but also outstanding references and GRE scores. Even then, it may just be too much to overcome for a top three school.

As much as I loathe unpaid internships, she may benefit from taking one with a local sports team to really dive into data analytics. That would certainly strengthen her candidacy for grad school. It would also help her make industry contacts and she may find she can secure employment without grad school. She can learn python and other programming languages on her own or through non-credit offerings at local colleges.

I think this sounds like a good way to spend a gap year. All 3 of these points really resonate with me. If anything, taking the courses AND doing well on them, can bolster her application. I like PP's idea about an unpaid internship (agreed that this is a double yikes in normal circumstances) and the data analytics. It jibes well with her sports background and her degree interests. It is good she has an acceptable GRE score but she needs to pump up her background to make up for the GPA. Between the classes and the internship she should be able to increase her network and hopefully parlay that into a "real" job while she is applying to schools.

Caveat -- make sure the classes are from good schools like NOVA Community College or something similar. Don't let her get sucked in by some fly-by-night for profit scam company. That won't help her.

[Anonymous]

She should work in a related field/job to see if her planned career is actually a good fit before she takes on the cost and time of grad school.

At this point she knows she wasn’t able to do that well in the subject as an undergrad. Is this purely about time? It could be it’s not a good match for her strengths? In any case, try to get as close as possible to the planned job so you can go in informed (or decide not to do it). There are hardly any journalism jobs these days, for example—she’s having trouble getting one now, but is it actually going to help to have a journalism masters?